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When you look at the technology boom of the last century, you could say that we’ve come a long way. We’ve eradicated diseases, made international travel and communication possible, and come up with all sorts of gadgets to make our lives “easier.”

​While all of this technology may seem like a good thing, it is having the disastrous effect of making us utterly and completely dependent on it. Considering our dependency on technology, to some degree, its putting our very survival in jeopardy in terms of our ability to survive sustained periods of time without it.

​These 23 survival skills below are examples of common knowledge things that our ancestors used to know and practice in their everyday lives. Remember, there was a time when people were self-reliant and didn’t depend on a chain of systems – electronics, internet and other technology, to get them through their days, years and lives.

​And also remember that, YES, it is possible to regain this self-­reliance and take control of your own survival.

In the cramped living conditions of cities, it is no wonder that people have stopped gardening. For them, food is something that you get at the supermarket and not pick from the ground.

​To urban dwellers, growing a garden might seem like a simple or even fun task, with the hardest part of it being all those weeds to deal with. But gardening (at least in a way which will actually produce you a substantial amount of food) is actually a task which requires vast amounts of knowledge.

​Here are just some of the things you need to know to grow food effectively:

​Soil conditions

Crop rotation patterns

Pruning

Composting

Sun exposure charting

Seed germination

Planter building

Pest control

Tool care and maintenance

In a SHFT situation where food is a commodity that you can’t get at the supermarket anymore, you will wish you knew these skills so you could produce your own food.

Better to start learning these skills now than when your life actually depends on it!

​2. Raising Animals

We’ve all heard the stories about the farmer having to get up at the rooster’s crow to milk the cows and feed the animals. Raising animals won’t just teach you responsibility (which is one trait our great grandparents definitely had more of than us). When you are responsible for animals, you learn everything that goes into caring for a living creature.

​You will get really good at working with wire for all those times you need to make repairs to the fence – a skill which will come in handy if you ever need to string barbed wire around the perimeter of your home for a SHFT defense system.

You will get really good at diagnosing and treating animal diseases – a useful skill for when no doctors or medicines are available.

​3. Hunting

In 2013, an Austin-based startup created an “auto-aim” rifle which automatically locks onto the target and tracks it. Whether it is a goose flying in the sky or a deer bounding away, you are guaranteed to get a hit. This is yet another example of how technology is destroying our self-reliance.

​Hunting used to be a common pastime, and many schools even had hunting clubs and the students would bring their rifles to school and keep them in their lockers (good luck getting that started again in our schools!). Yes, there still are plenty of people who hunt, but the numbers have dwindled.

​Even the people who still do hunt today don’t do it in the way that our great grandparents did. Hunting usually means setting some bait, climbing into a watch tower, and waiting until a deer comes around to take your shot.

​By contrast, our great grandparents hunted by staking out animals – a skill which required them to be very familiar with animal habits and tracks. They could walk quietly and undetected through the woods and patiently wait for the right opportunity to get a shot at a large prize.

In a SHFT situation, it is these snares which will probably be most useful for survival.

Unlike rifles, snares don’t require any ammo, they don’t make a loud noise which will give away your location, and are more likely to get a catch since small animals are found in greater abundance.

​4. Preparing Meals from Scratch

FEMA recommends that everyone keep a supply of non-perishable foods like dry beans and flour in their homes in case of a disaster. The irony of this is that many people have absolutely no clue on how to prepare these dry foods.

As for the 50lbs of flour that some people have stockpiled, I hope they like eating raw flour – because it takes some knowledge to turn flour into bread!

Our great grandparents didn’t have 45 different types of frozen lasagna to choose from. Heck, they didn’t even have supermarkets, never mind freezer sections!

They make food from scratch out of necessity, and it was nutritious and wholesome without needing any fancy ingredients.​

​5. Preserving Food

Thanks to our complex food storage and distribution systems, we can have foods like bananas and cucumber year round – never mind that the bananas probably grew over 1,000 miles from where you live or that cucumbers are only in season in warm months.

​Our grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t have this. Instead, they would take advantage of the food seasons. They’d produce a surplus and preserve it for times of scarcity.

Thanks to the food revolution that is occurring, there are increasingly more young people who have gardens and are doing things like home canning. However, we could really step this up a notch and start teaching people food preservation skills like:​

Lacto-fermentation

Pickling

Smoking

Dry salting

Curing

Drying

Cellaring

6. Not Wasting Food

When you have to grow, forage, and hunt for your food, you don’t take it for granted. This isn’t something which can be said of today’s generation!

7. Natural First Aid

Before the era of superhighways and cheap cars, people didn’t have easy access to doctors. They did things themselves. When SHFT and you’ve got a case of bad diarrhea from drinking dirty water, you will wish you could call up your grandparents and ask for advice.

8. How to Navigate (without a GPS)

If you have kids, then you probably know about the children’s show Dora the Explorer. When Dora goes on adventures, she calls on her friend Map to get instructions. Except that Dora doesn’t actually read Map. She just tells Map where she wants to go and Map tells her how to get there.

The first time I watched that show with my daughter, I thought it was ridiculous: You just can’t say the name of where you want to go and expect map to know everything! Then I realized that Map is exactly the same as the GPS systems which virtually everyone today relies on.

Once the grid goes down and everyone’s GPS is fried, you are going to have a lot of people wandering around lost in their own cities.​

To increase your chances of survival in an emergency situation, you can take these steps to learn more map reading skills and familiarize yourself with your area:

​Hang a map of your local area in your home so you can study its layout.

Look at your map from a tactical standpoint and devise exit strategies and pinpoint safe zones.

Determine where you will go in a disaster situation where you must evacuate; chart multiple routes from your home to this location.

Drive around your neighborhood without a map or GPS to familiarize yourself with it.

9. Home Maintenance

How many people today know how to do even the most basic of home maintenance or repairs, like putting up shelves or fixing a leaking pipe?

In a serious disaster situation, these skills are going to go a long way to your survival – such as when to put those basic carpentry skills to use when building a shelter. However, there doesn’t have to be a major SHTF disaster to get use out of these skills.

In a local disaster such as a hurricane (and these are happening with higher frequency), it is common to have broken windows, roofs, and doors. You must be able to fix these so your home remains safe and livable until you are able to clean up or evacuate.​

At the bare minimum, everyone should know the following three things. After you’ve got these down, you can gradually build up your skills by fixing home maintenance issues as they arise.​

​How to shut off the water main: Make sure you and all your family members know where the water main is located and how to shut it off. If a water supply pipe gets damaged during a disaster situation, you don’t want to confound the disaster by having water flooding into your house.

How to shut off the gas main: This is especially important for earthquakes and other natural disasters as gas supply pipes are often damaged. The leaking gas can kill you!

How to board up a window: Before a hurricane, you should always board up windows to prevent glass from breaking and flying everywhere. You’ll also need to board up windows before evacuating to protect your home from looters, and to fix any broken windows for protection against the elements.

10. How to Reuse Everything

In one memoir about growing up in the Great Depression, a woman tells about how her family salvaged socks which got holes in them. The holes usually appeared in the toes or heel. The hole would be sewn up, causing the sock to be slightly smaller – so the sock would get passed down to the next child in line.

When that child got a hole in the socks, they’d be sewn up once again and passed down. So it would continue until the socks were too small to be used. No, the socks still didn’t get thrown away. At that point, they’d be used for cleaning and scrubbing floors.

When you don’t have much, you learn how to make use of every single thing you can find. Luckily, this life skill is becoming popular again. You can see examples of people making all sorts of furniture, decor, and kids’ crafts out of old plastic bottles, salvaged wood, and so forth.

Take a look in your own trash can. What items are in there? Which of these items could be used in a survival situation?

11. Memorizing Phone Numbers

This might seem like a joke, but think about it for a minute. If a disaster occurred and your mobile phone was damaged, would you be able to call your loved ones?

​Long before cell phones allowed us to make a call with a single tap, people actually memorized the phone numbers of their family, friends, and doctors.

​If you don’t think that you will be able to memorize all your important numbers, then at least WRITE THEM DOWN ON PAPER. Do not only store your phone numbers on your computer or in the cloud.

Yes, the digital method of storing phone numbers might be fine for situations like if your cell phone is stolen. But what if the grid goes down and you can’t get online and your cell is dead?

Make a paper list of important contents with their phone numbers and addresses. Put this list in a waterproof sleeve and put it with all of your other important survival documents.

12. Cultivating Community

It wasn’t that long ago that neighbors knew each other and could rely on each other for things like the proverbial cup of sugar.

They did things like host dinner parties, block parties, and gossiped with each other. Today, most people don’t even know what their neighbors’ names are, nevertheless had any sort of bond with them. The most socializing we do is through Facebook.

Being friendly with your neighbors might not seem like a survival skill, but it might be the one which ultimately saves your life. Humans are social creatures and our main strength – and reason we’ve survived despite being weaker and slower than predators – is strength in numbers.​

When the SHTF (Sh** Hits The Fan), wouldn’t you rather be able to call on your neighbors to help you defend the perimeter and share your skills, or would you rather have them come banging on your door to steal your supplies?

13. Sewing

Our grandparents could have easily went to the store and purchased clothes. Or, if they lived far from a city, they could have hired a dressmaker to make their clothes. However, sewing (as well as other skills like crocheting, knitting, and darning) were more than just skills women were expected to know.

“Sewing was for many a routine component of a household economy, usually (but not always) cheaper than buying items ready-made…Sewing represented the home, women’s conventional role of caring for her family, and was associated with concepts of thrift, discipline, domestic production, even sexual morality. “

​14. Hand Washing Clothes

How many people would be able to wash their clothes efficiently without a washing machine? Imagine a situation where the grid has gone down and the washing machines don’t work plus there isn’t any running water!

15. Bartering

In history, farmers didn’t have much money but would have goods. They used these to barter with members of the community for things they needed. When the Great Depression struck, many people survived by bartering.

​Bartering is still very common in many parts of the world.

Speaking personally, I can say how uncomfortable I felt the first time I had to barter at a market in East Asia. It got easier (and the amounts I paid became much lower) – but it took time to develop this skill. Should the world economy crash and we needed to rely on bartering again, most of us would struggle.

Luckily, there are some organizations – like Project Appleseed – which are hoping to revive this lost skill for future generations.

17. Making their Own Cleaning Products

You’ve probably heard that our great-grandparents used to make soap out of animal fat, but do you have any clue on how to actually do it?

If there were a major economic collapse or grid failure, most of us would be incredibly dirty and we’d all be facing a major hygiene problem!

18. Foraging for Food

When we picture our great-grandparents’ and grandparents’ lives on the farm, we picture them gardening and tending the animals – but we tend to omit the foraging part.

Yet, our grandparents used to take long walks into wild fields and forests to gather mushrooms, tubers, leafy greens, berries, and many other wild edibles.

Foraging is a long part of our history, and it was how our grandparents were able to supplement their food and get greater diversity. Luckily, foraging is making a comeback with youth but the knowledge is mostly lost and relegating to a few “foolproof” species of edible plants.

19. Warming a Home

In our great-grandparents’ time, wood stoves were the most common way of warming a home during the cold months. They’d also employ various tricks, like using “bed warmers” filled with coals.

​In the 1900s, “instant heating” methods started to become more common. However, these are anything but “instant” by our standards. You would have to load coal into a furnace, using guesswork to determine how much coal to use.

20. Butchering

Because hunting and raising animals was an important part of life, you can bet that they also knew how to butcher it. My grandparents would even make sure to use every single part of the animal, making “head cheese” from parts that people today say are too gross to eat.

​I tried to explain that it’s not that much different to disposable diapers: You just put the cloth diaper into a bin instead of the trash. And we have a washing machine – it isn’t even like we are washing the diapers by hand!

In this sense, I personally think that cloth diapering isn’t just a lost survival skill. It is a lost mentality.

22. Entertaining Themselves

Our grandparents didn’t have TV growing up, not to mention eBooks, the internet, YouTube, video games, the dozens of other forms of instant-entertainment that we have today.

Formed in 2005, WRG’s Team consists of subject matter experts from the waste, recycling, alternative fuels, and transportation industries from both the public and private sectors. WRG’s Team of experts have over 150 years of combined experience.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the rest of the Team of subject matter experts at WIH Resource Group.

For more information about WIH Resource Group’s diversified client services, and how we can best serve you, visit www.wihrg.com

Contact us today to see how we can best serve you at 480.241.9994 or admin@wihrg.com

Celebrating a decade in business, WIH Resource Group is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range of markets, including waste management, recycling, financials, transportation, M&A due diligence and support, alternative fuel fleet conversions, facilities, environmental, energy for private sector business and government clients.

WIH Resource Group is a leader in all of the key markets that it serves. WIH Resource Group provides a blend of global reach, local knowledge, innovation and technical excellence in delivering solutions that create, enhance and sustain the world’s built, natural and social environments. WIH Resource Group serves clients in more than 175 key markets internationally.

PHOENIX, AZ, NOVEMBER 15, 2017 – WIH RESOURCE GROUP, INC. (WRG) IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF AN ALTERNATIVE FUELS STUDY ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF LOVELAND, COLORADO

WIH Resource Group, and its subcontractor, Fuel Solutions, Inc. were retained by the City of Loveland, Colorado to conduct the Feasibility Study on behalf of the City of Loveland. The WRG project Team members provided the City with a tailored set of strategies and recommendations, including:

Specific cost-benefit analyses for each recommended alternative, including a Return On Investment (ROI) projection;

A description of the projected timing and additional costs related to those recommended conversions;

“The WIH Resource Group Team was highly professional and responsive in meeting the City of Loveland’s expectations regarding its Alternative Fuels Feasibility Study. Staff and elected officials from the City of Loveland now have much greater knowledge and confidence in how to proceed with greening our fleet methodically, successfully, and with reduced risks. WIH Resource Group met our needs completely.” – Mick Mercer, Internal Services Manager – Public Works Department, City of Loveland, Colorado

MESSAGE FROM WIH RESOURCE GROUP PRESIDENT, BOB WALLACE:

“I am very proud of our team and that the City of Loveland is pleased with the results of our project work for them. Both Mick Mercer and Steve Kibler, and the rest of the City staff involved in the project, were very knowledgeable and helpful in providing key resources and responding to the WRG Team’s questions about the City’s fleet management, fleet maintenance, City policies, financials and its operations. The City of Loveland is outstanding and we are honored to have them as a client” – Bob Wallace, President – WIH Resource Group, Inc.

ABOUT WIH RESOURCE GROUP, INC. (WRG)

WIH Resource Group is global leader providing of diversified environmental (waste and recycling), financial, expert witness services, transportation / logistics consulting solutions to its Clients throughout North America and internationally.

Formed in 2005, WRG’s Team consists of subject matter experts from the waste, recycling, alternative fuels, and transportation industries from both the public and private sectors. WRG’s Team of experts have over 150 years of combined experience.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the rest of the Team of subject matter experts at WIH Resource Group.

For more information about WIH Resource Group’s diversified client services, and how we can best serve you, visit www.wihrg.com

Contact us today to see how we can best serve you at 480.241.9994 or admin@wihrg.com

Celebrating a decade in business, WIH Resource Group is a global provider of professional technical and management support services to a broad range of markets, including waste management, recycling, financials, transportation, M&A due diligence and support, alternative fuel fleet conversions, facilities, environmental, energy for private sector business and government clients.

WIH Resource Group is a leader in all of the key markets that it serves. WIH Resource Group provides a blend of global reach, local knowledge, innovation and technical excellence in delivering solutions that create, enhance and sustain the world’s built, natural and social environments. WIH Resource Group serves clients in more than 175 key markets internationally.

ARTICLE OVERVIEW
This article looks at the practical implications for waste management firms and organizations, both private and public sectors, for moving their fleets to alternative fuels including what the options are, as well as some of the challenges and the benefits. This Article provides a high level of key issues to consider and “how to” guide on the subject looking at the practical considerations of making the switch including infrastructure. Many fleet managers and owner/operators are weighing their options when it comes to purchasing natural gas trucks vs. diesel trucks. The big question is “When it comes to diesel or natural gas trucks, which is best for my bottom line?” If fleet managers and owner/operators want to make an informed decision about their business, it is crucial to understand the differences between diesel and natural gas trucks.

A growing number of fleets have already made the switch to natural gas after weighing the benefits and challenges. Private waste companies such as Waste Management and Republic Services are buying thousands of new natural gas vehicles (NGVs), based mainly on the economics of switching. The public sector is lagging behind private haulers in making the switch largely because governments have a harder time securing the capital needed to buy the new equipment, even though there is typically an eventual payoff. However, some cities and other local governments are moving in the same direction as the private sector in order to generate the economic and environmental benefits that are available from compressed natural gas (CNG).

INTRODUCTION
Every day in every major City, Town or Community, one vehicle type, besides school buses, passes through every residential street – the garbage / recycling collection truck. Garbage Trucks (aka as refuse collection vehicles – RCVs) operate daily in various parts of every residential part of every City, collecting garbage, green waste, recyclables, food waste and bulk waste. In most cities or towns, these trucks are still powered by traditional diesel or biodiesel, spewing tons of carcinogens and relatively high amounts of CO2 into our atmosphere and our communities.

Those plumes of diesel exhaust emit dangerous levels of CO2 and in the United States alone approximately 180,000 refuse trucks operate and burn approximately 1.2 billion gallons of diesel fuel a year, releasing almost 27 billion pounds of the greenhouse gas, CO2. Every gallon of diesel fuel burnt emits more than 22 pounds of CO2.

In the U.S., there has been increasing interest in fuelling waste and recycling collection fleets using alternative fuels, primarily either from CNG from the gas-utility grid, or in some cases from landfill or biogas (aka bioCNG) captured at their own waste processing facilities.

CNG OR LNG FUELThere are two types of natural gas fuels – compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. CNG is the lower priced of the two fuels and is much more readily available. CNG requires somewhat more payload displacement for equal fuel capacity vs. LNG. However, the disparity had been reduced in recent years due to lighter CNG-storage cylinders and more efficient cylinder configurations on the trucks. The other major challenges with LNG are the fuel delivery, storage and actual vehicle fueling. For the purposes of discussion, this article focuses on CNG, since it is a more readily available both in terms of fueling facilities and vehicles, the abundance of infrastructure, and lower cost.

FUEL ECONOMY & COSTS COMPARED TO DIESEL
Garbage trucks have poor fuel efficiency, typically around 3 miles per gallon, which has been compounded in recent years since the price of diesel has hovered around $4+ per gallon for the last five years.

Currently, CNG is competitively priced with diesel. The price of a diesel gallon equivalent (DGE) of CNG has steadily fallen compared to the price of a gallon of diesel. Although the market price of natural gas was fairly volatile in the previous decade, it has stabilized due to significant increases in discovery and production of natural gas in the U.S. It now appears the price of natural gas has decoupled from the price of oil and has therefore not been as volatile as gasoline and diesel prices.

The expansion of natural gas vehicle (NGV) usage holds the promise of reducing carbon emissions, lessening dependence on foreign oil, and lowering fuel and transportation costs. Viability of natural gas as a transportation fuel has grown partly because the availability of shale gas resources has dramatically expanded and gasoline and diesel prices have spiked. NGVs are also appealing because the high-pressured fuel system is sealed, so very little fugitive emission occurs during fueling and use.

Natural gas trucks can save on fuel costs, but the up-front costs are significant. The most costly element is installing a natural gas fueling station, which depending on its size, can cost several million dollars to permit, design, and construct. An alternative to constructing a new fueling facility is to locate a nearby facility that allows third-party access for fueling. In addition, fleet maintenance facilities have to be upgraded to accommodate CNG fleet maintenance, which requires gas detection as well as improved ventilation to manage possible gas leaks that can be ignited through an inadvertent spark.

The trucks themselves can also cost between $30,000 and $50,000 more than their basic diesel counterparts. However the savings for operating NGVs add up quickly. A DGE of CNG costs less than $1.15 to produce, including the cost of the gas commodity, electrical power for system operation and a maintenance allowance .

LANDFILL BIOGAS (BIOCNG) & RENEWABLE NATURAL GAS (RNG)Fueling a vehicle with food waste was a concept made famous by the movie Back to the Future in the 1980s. Now, almost 30 years later, what was once a futuristic idea has become a reality. In some places, garbage trucks run on the methane captured from the same landfills where they drop off their payloads.

Biogas, also known as renewable natural gas (RNG), produced at locations such as landfills dairy farms, or anaerobic digesters can supply gas to onsite fueling infrastructure for vehicles such as refuse haulers and dairy trucks. Bacteria breaks down organic waste to produce the methane, which is then filtered and compressed for use in the trucks as a vehicle fuel creating RNG.

There is equipment costs associated with refining RNG for use as vehicle fuel, which includes processes to remove moisture, CO, CO2 and heavier hydrocarbons. Once the RNG has been refined, equipment and installation costs for a fueling station using RNG are similar to those for a fueling station that is connected to a utility pipeline. Increased use of CNG vehicles opens the door to use of RNG. The great news it that RNG is a fully sustainable fuel and with over 30 percent of municipal solid waste (MSW) being food waste and green material, refuse fleets are uniquely positioned to capitalize on a “closed-loop” approach, collecting and processing organic waste to produce RNG for fueling vehicles hauling the same waste.

Producing RNG captures greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural waste and landfills that would otherwise migrate into the atmosphere, turning a costly pollution problem into a revenue-generating product that serves regional climate goals. In fact, RNG has the lowest carbon intensity (CI) values of all fuels rated for California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. According to the California Energy Commission (CEC), CNG from landfill gas and dairy-digester biogas reduces life-cycle GHG emissions to 85–90 percent below those of diesel fuel, while biomethane derived from high-solids anaerobic digestion can reduce life-cycle GHG emissions to roughly 115 percent below those of diesel. And the operating economics are good, as the cost of the gas commodity is zero, though the processing system does have capital and operating costs.

The use of landfill gas as a vehicle fuel is becoming more common as organizations seek to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and take advantage of the availability and sale of renewable energy. In July 2014, the EPA finalized the Renewable Fuel Pathways II Final Rule to identify additional fuel pathways under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program.

BENEFITS OF CNG
The expansion of natural gas vehicles (NGV) usage holds the promise of reducing carbon emissions, lessening dependence on foreign oil, and lowering transportation costs. Viability of natural gas as a transportation fuel has grown partly because the availability of shale gas resources has dramatically expanded and gasoline and diesel prices have spiked. NGVs are also appealing because the high-pressured fuel system is sealed, so little evaporative emission occurs during fueling and use.

MUNICIPALITIES ARE REQUIRING CNG TRUCKS
Cities, Counties and States are increasingly requiring that CNG refuse trucks be used as a condition of granting solid waste and recycling collection contracts. While California jurisdictions have been leading the charge, the town of Smithtown, NY also pioneered this approach in 2006, becoming the first locality outside of California to mandate use of CNG trucks for refuse collection. The approach has since become commonplace elsewhere. Even in communities that do not mandate use of CNG trucks, proposing to use a CNG fleet can improve a firm’s competitive position in the bidding and evaluation process, with the promise of lower contract costs for fuel, reduced emissions and lower noise pollution.

FLEET OPERATIONAL ASSESSMENT
In determining whether it is practical and cost effective to consider converting a garbage truck fleet to CNG, it is necessary to perform the proper due diligence by reviewing the operations and fleet needs as follows:

Expected growth in services, customers, etc. as related to future vehicle numbers and use; and

Proximity to customers with the potential for CNG fueled fleets.
Feasibility of locating a CNG-fueling facility at the fleet yard, including consideration of adequate space, electrical power, and vehicle circulation.

The answers to these primary factors are critical in assessing the practicality of converting a fleet to CNG.

FLEET VEHICLES COST – BENEFITS ANALYSIS
In addition to the due diligence collected from the fleet operational assessment, fleet managers should assess the qualitative and quantitative comparisons of using CNG for new RCVs such comparisons to include:

Cost of new vehicles;

Lead time between vehicle order and delivery;

Cost of diesel fuel;

Five (5) and ten (10) year spreads on a miles per equivalent gallon basis based on projected supply/demand of fleet use in the US of various fuels;

Analysis on issues stemming from the mounting of the fuel tanks to the body, specifically addressing: 1. Height restrictions; and 2.Tank serviceability by mechanics and required fall protection.

OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL IMPACT ANALYSISConducting a operational and financial impacts analysis includes reviewing personnel (headcount) requirements for repairs, fleet maintenance, and operations of the fleet assuming vehicle replacement schedule for the next five (5) and ten (10) years with CNG vehicles, including the following:

Modifications to the maintenance garage as needed to make the garage CNG-safe;

Initial and ongoing training requirements for mechanics and drivers; and
Identifying local private sector repair and service facilities and providers.

FUELING FACILITY SITE ANALYSIS
The US Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center website offers a free alternative fueling station locator for finding alternative fueling stations near a specific address or ZIP code or along a route in the United States. It allows users to enter a state to see a station count and specific fueling facility locations (see http://www.afdc.energy.gov/locator/stations/)

In the event a local CNG fueling facility is not available, a fueling facility will need to be designed and constructed. In this scenario, it is important to consider the following as part of the decisions as to where to site the facility:

Location of natural gas distribution lines in relation to the planned CNG facility and requirements to adequately serve the compressors;

Location of electrical service in relation to the planned CNG facility and the cost and requirements to adequately connect and operate the compressors;

Footprint of the locations to house the entire solid waste fleet;
Footprint of the locations to house required vehicle maintenance structures and the requirements and costs for those maintenance structures/changes to existing structures;

Logistical comparison of each with respect to ingress and egress as related to CNG fueling;

Operational cost impact including any route modifications required of each CNG refuse trucks based on vehicle fueling requirements;

Operational cost impact including any route modifications of all non-CNG refuse trucks including vehicle fueling requirements;

Maintenance and operational costs for the station(s) and related equipment;

Useful life of major station equipment and estimated replacement cost;
Consideration of developing a coop or shared-use CNG facility with nearby fleet(s), as well as consideration of the public sale of CNG as a revenue stream;

Suitability of time-fill and fast-fill CNG station(s) and/or a combination thereof; and

Should procuring for such services be required, estimating the timing for the possible design, permitting, and construction for all locations, including a temporary station (if applicable) needs to be considered.

If a fueling facility is to be designed and constructed, it is necessary to determine a baseline for function and performance for the needed CNG fueling facility, as required to meet the planned use. Once the key design parameters have been determined – i.e. number of fast and/or time-fill dispensers, standard cubic ft. per minute (SCFM) capacity of the compressor system, compressor-redundancy levels etc. – site-specific configurations and conceptual equipment layouts will be prepared that account for variations in gas-supply pressure, total available space, and even shape of the space (perhaps a single duplex skid would fit better than two separate skids at a given site). This would also include assessing cost and operational factors for fast-fill vs. time-fill solutions, such as reduced fueling-labor costs for time fill, verses reduced dispenser costs and improved fuel-use tracking for fast-fill configurations.

Once the equipment configuration and conceptual site layout for two or three candidate locations has been established, that information can be used to prepare preliminary construction-cost estimates for the fueling facility. This needs to include site-specific allowances for ancillary factors, such as paving, fencing, lighting, supply-utility upgrades, and added sound-mitigation requirements.

FUELING FACILITIES LOCATION IMPACTS
In the event a local CNG fueling facility is not available, a fueling facility will need to be designed and constructed. In this scenario, it is important to consider the following as part of the decisions as to the optimal location(s) of permanent fueling station(s). Some of the critical factors that need to be included in the analysis are:

• Permitting, design and construction costs;
• Timing of permitting;
• Selection of a suitable design-consulting firm to prepare engineered drawings and specifications;
• Selection of Equipment;
• Operational and maintenance costs of the station(s);
• Analysis of the long term costs or operational benefits;
• Operational impact (if any) on the routing of the RCVs.

Optimal projects should assume a RCV fleet-replacement schedule for the next five (5) and ten (10) years is accomplished with CNG vehicles.

Optimal fueling facility locations should also consider opportunities to provide service to the public and/or commercial customer(s) whose fleets may be served by a conveniently sited station(s). With a production cost of less than $1.15 per DGE and a typical sale-price range of $2.00 to $2.90 per DGE, a reasonable margin per DGE is available.

It is also important to note that it may be necessary to determine if a temporary (or mobile) fueling facility will be required, and if so, the costs, operational requirements, timing of completion, location, and the vehicle fueling capacity of the temporary station.

GRANT AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIESIt is important to conduct research and identify funding and grant opportunities as well as any tax or government rebates or credits for which a specific fleet may qualify. Various incentives may be available in the forms of tax credits, grants, rebates and voucher-based vehicle price buy-downs which can further accelerate payback period for fleet conversions.

Along with Federal incentives, several states such as California, Colorado, Florida, Texas and Indiana offer strong incentive programs for purchasing vehicles that run on CNG. Other states offer incentives as well, and some states offer incentives for building CNG fueling infrastructure.

The federal government has for several years provided for an excise tax credit of 50 cents per gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) of CNG used as a transportation fuel to be claimed on tax filings, as well as a tax credit of up to $30,000 of the cost of building CNG fueling infrastructure. The federal tax credits expired on the last day of 2014; however there is a high likelihood that during its current session, Congress will renew these tax credits retroactive to the first of January 2015. Depending on the type and amount of incentives received, ROIs for fleet conversions to CNG RCVs can be reduced to just two or three years. A listing of incentives available for deploying CNG trucks can be found at http://www.afdc.energy.gov/laws and at ngvamerica.org/government-policy/federal-incentives/.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONSThe recent discoveries of massive natural-gas reserves in the U.S. are creating greater scales of economy in support of long-term planning and fleet conversions to NGVs. NGVs are helping the U.S. and Canada to break free of dependence on foreign oil. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, NGVs typically emit 25 percent less greenhouse gases than diesel-powered vehicles.

In addition, natural gas is lower priced than diesel, approximately $1.50 to $2.50 less per gasoline gallon equivalent (DGE), depending on whether the CNG is purchased at a retail location or is produced at a fleet’s own facility. About 50 percent of new garbage trucks and 25 percent of new buses in the U.S. operate on natural gas. In several cities, all RCVs and buses are now running on natural gas, either in city collection fleets or contracted private-sector fleets.

While diesel prices have declined in recent months, fleet owners and managers need to take a long-term view about petroleum costs and fleet conversions to CNG. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has projected that natural gas prices will remain significantly lower than the price of petroleum for at least the next two decades and that natural gas prices will exhibit only one-third the price volatility of diesel fuel.

Fleet standardization in terms of vehicle type, manufacturer, model, chassis, body and other specifications is an excellent way to gain greater productivity out of fleet operators, fleet maintenance, reducing spare parts inventory, and increased utilization the fleet.

If you are considering the switch to a natural gas fleet, work with experienced experts such as WIH Resource Groupto assist you in deciding what is best for your business.

Alternative Fuels Vehicles Group on Linked In – http://goo.gl/SvYYTN – The Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFV) Group on Linked In was created as a catalyst for sharing information on AFVs and promoting the use of AFVs and fleet conversions. The AFV Group was founded and is sponsored by WIH Resource Group (http://www.wihrg.com). The AFV welcomes new members and encourages member participation in the Alternative Fuel Vehicles Group (AFV) discussions.

CNG Now – http://www.cngnow.com/ – The official Pickens Plan site promotes natural gas for transportation and provides information on vehicles, fueling and energy news.

NGVAmerica – http://www.ngvamerica.org/ – This national trade association promotes development of the U.S. market for natural gas vehicles, and advocates for supportive federal policies, publishes a weekly newsletter and provides fact sheets and other resources for NGVs and CNG facilities.

NGV Global –http://www.ngvglobal.com/ – The International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles provides news and information on the industry from around the world.

Natural Gas Vehicle Technology Forum – http://goo.gl/RZAgSA – Run by the Clean Vehicle Education Foundation and supported by the Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission, the NGVTF aims to advance natural gas vehicle and infrastructure technology and deployment.

CALSTART – http://www.calstart.org/ – The nonprofit CALSTART works with the public and private sectors to develop advanced transportation technologies and help clean transportation companies succeed.

Energy Information Administration – http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/ – Statistics on and analysis of natural gas supply, production and use from the U.S. Department of Energy.

ABOUT THE AUTHORSBob Wallace, MBA is the Founder and a Principal of WIH Resource Group, Inc. and has over 27 years of experience in waste and recycling collections programs management, transportation / logistics operations, alternative fuels (CNG, LPG, RNG, LNG & biodiesel), Fleet Management, Operational Performance Assessments (OPAs), Waste-by-Rail programs, recycling / solid waste operations, transfer stations, landfills, planning and development. Mr. Wallace has extensive experience in working with clients in both the private and public sectors. Prior to WIH Resource Group, Mr. Wallace served as the Director of Transportation & Logistics for Waste Management, the largest provider of waste management and recycling services in North America. He can be reached at bwallace@wihresourcegroup.com or 480.241.9994. For more information visit http://www.wihrg.com

Reb Guthrie is a Principal and co-founder of Fuel Solutions Inc. He has managed most of the projects performed by the company since its inception 1n 1994, including the assessment, specification, development and installation of more than 130 CNG fueling stations for municipalities, transit authorities, counties, school districts and federal agencies throughout the U.S. Reb’s recent project-management work includes providing lead technical consulting to the Los Angeles County MTA in the procurement of a $6.2 million fast-fill CNG facility at Division 13 in downtown Los Angeles, and the design and construction supervision of a $2.1 million fast- and time-fill fueling facility for the City of Denver Sanitation Department. He has also been certified by the NGV Institute and Southern California Gas Company as an NGV Fueling Facility Planner. Reb has a BS in Economics from the College of Business at Arizona State University.

Based in Phoenix, Arizona, the company serves both private companies and public sector Agency clients throughout North America and internationally. To learn more about WIH Resource Group, Inc. visit http://www.wihrg.com .

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com

Passionate about life, learning, love and sharing their experiences of life, Bob & Tracy Wallace enjoy sharing their invigorated (energizing) solutions / advice and useful life tips for living life to the fullest on their popular life development blog, “Invigorated Solutions”. Click HERE to visit our website for more valuable information.

The nation’s biggest city, under the direction of Mayor Bill de Blasio, marked Earth Day on Wednesday by linking a sweeping effort to limit its impact on the environment with its fight against income inequality by pledging to lift more than 800,000 people out of poverty.

De Blasio unveiled his ambitious OneNYC plan as a comprehensive strategy to improve New Yorkers’ lives by providing affordable housing, shortening commute times and preserving the environment.

“The way forward is to create a vision for one city where there’s opportunity for all, sustainability for all and fairness for all,” de Blasio said. “So many people who have fought for economic justice have also fought for environmental justice because these challenges go hand in hand.”

The waste reduction proposal — first reported Tuesday by The Associated Press — is central to the plan. New York, home to about 8.5 million residents, aims to reduce its waste output by 90 percent by 2030 from its 2005 level. The plan, the biggest undertaken by a city in the Western Hemisphere, would eliminate more than 3 million tons of garbage by overhauling the city’s recycling program, offering incentives to reduce waste and embracing the City Council’s plan to dramatically reduce the use of plastic shopping bags.

The waste reduction plan is part of an update to the sustainability project created by de Blasio’s predecessor, Michael Bloomberg. But even changing its name from PlaNYC to the loftier OneNYC: The Plan for a Strong and Just City, which invokes de Blasio’s campaign promise to combat the “tale of two cities” created by income inequality, makes clear that the updated plan would grow in scope.

He also reiterated his lofty housing goals — he aims to create 500,000 units of affordable housing by 2040 — and said he wants to end racial and ethnic disparities in premature mortality. He pledged to explore new capital expenditures — including the feasibility of a new subway line to serve central Brooklyn — to improve the city’s aging infrastructure and to reduce the average New Yorker’s commuting time to 45 minutes.

Some resiliency advocates applauded the lofty goals, but others, including Jordan Levine of the New York League of Conservation Voters, chided the plan for not providing specifics on funding and warned that “implementation is where rubber meets the road.”

For decades, the city’s trash has been exported to South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania or upstate New York. The amount of waste produced by the city has fallen 14 percent since 2005 because of an increase in recycling, and a key component of the plan is to bolster that output by simplifying the process and consolidating all recycling into one bin by 2020.

Organics — such as food scraps and yard waste — make up nearly a third of the city’s residential waste stream. A program to collect that material directly from residents’ homes is expanding to nearly 200,000 residents by year’s end, and city officials want to serve every home by the end of 2018. The city also will offer economic incentives to participate, including potentially a property tax rebate for homeowners.

The city also aims to reduce commercial waste by 90 percent by 2030 by adopting a program that could mean tax incentives for participating businesses and fines for nonparticipants.

The de Blasio administration stopped short of endorsing a City Council bill that proposes a 10-cent fee on plastic bags, but officials said that reducing their use is a priority and that they would coordinate efforts with the council.

Based in Phoenix, Arizona, the company serves both private companies and public sector Agency clients throughout North America and internationally. To learn more about WIH Resource Group, Inc. visit http://www.wihrg.com .

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com

Passionate about life, learning, love and sharing their experiences of life, Bob & Tracy Wallace enjoy sharing their invigorated (energizing) solutions / advice and useful life tips for living life to the fullest on their popular life development blog, “Invigorated Solutions”. Click HERE to visit our website for more valuable information.

Biomass is currently one of the latest sources of renewable energy. Together with solar energy and wind power it makes a convincing argument for not using fossil fuels anymore and rather reverting to natural processes to obtain the energy / power that we need. Biomass consists of plant matter that is specifically grown for its ability to generate heat or electricity. Mostly this would mean that Biomass consists of dead plant matter, but plants that are still alive can also generate heat and are therefore also included in the term Biomass.

In order to produce the heat or electricity, the biomass needs to be directly incinerated and fed fuel to keep it burning. This means that biodegradable waste can therefore also be included if it is able to burn and generate heat or electricity. Unfortunately fossil fuels also fall in this category as they are traditionally used to burn in order to generate electricity.

The main purpose of investigating biomass energy is to find sustainable, renewable energy in order to eliminate the usage of fossil fuels for the purpose of generating electricity. In the following sections we will explore what biomass energy is, how it works, its sources and it potential. It is always important to make decisions such as these based on facts rather than emotional arguments.

What is Biomass?

When looking at biomass, it is important to remember that biomass consists mainly or dead or even living biological matter. In the context of biomass energy this biological matter is usually plant-based. It is carbon based and consists of molecules of hydrogen (as well as small amounts of oxygen), nitrogen and various other smaller molecules of other chemicals. Although biomass is generally plant-based, animal matter can also be included for the benefit of the chemical molecules that it can contribute.

Why use Biomass?

One of the biggest advantages of using biomass is the fact that it is a renewable energy source. Making use of biomass energy means that the carbon emissions usually associated with burning fossil fuels are drastically reducing, thereby diminishing the carbon “footprint” left behind. This also means that it can contribute to reducing the so-called greenhouse effect, as well as the production of the so-called greenhouse gasses. All of this in turn helps to prevent and minimise global warming.

When using biomass for energy purposes, the carbon produced when burning is turned into carbon dioxide when it combines with the oxygen around it. When emitted into the air, the carbon monoxide is ‘inhaled’ by living plant matter. This, in turn, then results in oxygen being released into the atmosphere, reducing the carbon production that the burning of fossil fuels causes. This means that biomass makes more biological and environmental sense when thinking about sustainable and renewable energy.

Types of Biomass

Scientists recognize four types of biomass:

Wood and agricultural products: This consists of so-called ‘home-grown’ products such as wood logs and chips etc. It is important to note that almost any biological matter can produce biomass energy. Agricultural biomass come from waste products such as fruit pits, corn cobs etc.

Solid waste: This is everyday waste / ‘garbage’ that can be used to produce energy. It is easily burnt and many plants are already using this method of generating energy.

Landfill gas: This is methane gas that is produced during the decaying and rotting process of biological matter. Landfills are artificial environments for these processes to take place, but are just as effective in generating gas that can compete successfully with the so-called ‘natural gasses’.

Alcohol fuels: Liquid fuels such as ethanol and methanol are produced using biological matter such as wheat, corn and potatoes. Once again, this is done during the decaying and fermentation processes.

Sources of Biomass

There are 5 distinct sources of biomass: Garbage, Wood, Waste, Landfill gases and Alcohol fuels. The biggest source of biomass currently is garbage. The day-to-day waste of households hold the biggest potential for biomass energy as it is already habit to incinerate garbage. Wood comes in at second place with the so-called ‘black liquor’ its biggest contributor. Black liquor is the waste product of the pulping process.

Hot on its heels is waste with it main contributors being municipal solid waste (MSW), manufacturing waste and landfill gas. In the last place are the liquid fuels such as ethanol and methanol which are the result of the fermentation of certain plant types such as corn and sugarcane. Together these sources of biomass have the potential to produce significant amounts of energy that could successfully replace the use of fossil fuels such as coal as a source of energy.

How Biomass energy works?

The process of producing biomass energy starts with the process of photosynthesis in plants. When plants absorb sunlight, the process starts with breaking down the components of sun, air and water into products that the plant uses to grow and thrive. One waste product of the process is oxygen which the plant releases into the air. This is why plants are so important as they “clean” the air of carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the air.

The next step comes when the plant dies and becomes a waste product. As a waste product plant matter (as well as animal waste) can be collected and burned to generate energy. Because these products are all completely natural, the waste product from the incineration process is carbon dioxide which can easily be absorbed by other, living plants. The carbon emissions are greatly reduced and in many cases not even produced.

Potential for Biomass Energy

Studies by the United States of America show that the use of biomass energy can increase sharply over the next 20 – 30 years. They are already producing 1.2 percent of their total energy needs through the use of biomass energy. It is also predicted that four percent of their transportation energy needs (fuel) can be produced in 2010 with an expectation of up to 20 percent in 2030.

The Department of Energy also believes that biomass energy can be producing up to 14 percent of the USA’s energy consumption by 2030. The potential for biomass energy is huge and is making significant inroads in proving to be the most economic solution to the quest for renewable and sustainable energy sources.

Converting Biomass to Energy

In order to convert biomass into energy, scientists and energy plants can use 1 of 3 conversion methods:

Thermochemical conversion takes place when plant matter is heated but not burned. The heating process helps the plant matter to break down into its natural gasses, liquids and solids. These are then processed to become the energy producing fuel such as methanol and alcohol that is required. The gasses are collected to help fuel the turbines that generate energy.

Biochemical conversion is when bacteria etc. is used to break down the plant matter. It makes use of the fermentation process to break plant matter down into solids, gasses and fluids. Once these have been achieved, they are processed and turned into energy generating fuel.

Chemical conversion is the process that converts oils (like canola oil) into useful fuels – even petrol and diesel for trucks. Algae has also been known to produce the so-called ‘biodiesel’ for trucks and is acknowledged as a better source than the cooking oil from restaurants.

Biomass Energy Pros and Cons

As with any fuel, there are many pros and cons attached to it.

On the pro side, the obvious benefit is that the biomass fuel is sustainable and renewable. Although they are as effective as fossil fuels, they don’t cause much pollution. Using the garbage that would normally go into a landfill helps to reduce the pollution to the environment. From a political point of view, the use of biomass energy reduces countries’ need to depend on foreign countries for their oil supply.

The cons of biomass energy aren’t immediately visible. The first concern is that biomass energy does release greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. However, the amount is considerably less than that released by fossil fuels. There are special cleaning requirements for a biomass energy plant. There is also the question of how much it costs to erect a biomass energy plant compared to the cost of a fossil fuel energy plant.

Although there are also cons to the use of biomass energy, it is clear that it is still a more sensible approach to the constant threat of global warming. It may be a little too late to repair the damage already done, but it is still possible to overlook the “inconveniences” of biomass energy in order to prevent future damage and disaster.

Biomass Energy Finance

Biomass energy is still a controversial topic in many governments. There is clear competition between the supporters of fossil fuel energy and biomass energy. For this reason governments are wary of offering their support to biomass energy initiatives too quickly. In a domino effect, private investment is tied to the government’s policies on biomass energy and can therefore not be tapped into easily.

Earlier this year the UK government has relented and offered their support for biomass energy pioneers, offering to finance both the non-fuel as well as the fuel aspects of building plants. This unlocks the doors for private investors into the industry. There is an biomass energy estimated £13 billion in private investment money that has been waiting for the government to change its policy on biomass energy.

WIH Resource Group is a global leader and provider of comprehensive waste management, recycling, transportation/logistical and business solutions, specializing in, among other services, waste management operational performance assessments, transportation / logistics, alternative fuel use, solid waste planning, waste and recycling market studies, business development and environmental services. Based in Phoenix, the company serves both private and public sector clients throughout North America and globally. Our customers include both public agencies and private sector businesses customers throughout North America. To learn more visit http://www.wihrg.com

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com

San DiegoMayor Jerry Sanders is abandoning a potential sale of the Miramar Landfill — a key piece of his fiscal recovery plan — after three private companies withdrew from the bidding process without making an offer.

Instead the mayor said he will move forward with possibly outsourcing the landfill’s operations through managed competition, which allows private firms to compete against city workers for jobs. That option will likely result in far less taxpayer savings than a sale because the city won’t be able to charge the operator a franchise fee of as much as $10 million annually.

The decision ends a seven-month period in which the three firms — Allied Waste Services, Texas Disposal Systems and Waste Management — researched the landfill and negotiated with city officials over various details. In the end, none were willing to submit a formal offer.

“We still believe that selling the landfill was the best option for the city,” Sanders said in a statement. “At the beginning of this process, there was a lot of interest and enthusiasm. But at the end of the day, all of the bidders preferred to run the landfill instead of buy it.”

San Diego faces a $56.7 million budget deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and leaders are exploring a wide range of options to increase revenue or slash expenses. Soliciting bids to take over operations at Miramar Landfill is one of the most frequently mentioned for saving taxpayer money and city leaders even attached it to a campaign to increase the city’s sales tax, which voters roundly rejected in November.

But the potential sale appears to have been doomed by the landfill’s complicated ownership structure and an unwillingness by the private companies to shoulder the financial risk of unknown environmental liabilities.

The city has operated Miramar Landfill since 1959 when it signed a $500-a-year lease deal with the military, which owns the property. The lease, which extends through 2045, changed several times through the years, notably expanding the site from 450 acres to the existing 1,400-acre plot.

The north and south sections of the landfill have already been filled. The active western portion has collected 39 million tons of trash with room for an additional 19 million tons. At the current pace — 988,000 tons of solid waste and 348,000 tons of greenery added annually — the projected closure date is 2022.

City officials were adamant that whoever took over operations would have to assume the landfill’s liabilities, including any costs associated to its eventual closure.

Bob Gregory, chief executive and principal owner of Texas Disposal Systems, said he was “unable to come to a comfort level” in large part because of the environment liability and questions over what role the military would play.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity. We were very excited about the prospect, still are excited about the prospect if they want to do it under a different set of circumstances,” he said. “It was a business deal that had a great deal of financial risk.”

In a statement, Allied Waste also said it would prefer an operational agreement rather than a purchase. A Waste Management official didn’t return a call for comment.

The goal had been to hand the city’s lease over to a private company that would, in turn, give the city a steep discount on dumping fees and pay the city an annual franchise fee of as much as $10 million. That money could then be spent on public safety, parks and libraries.

That’s not possible today. The landfill’s $37 million budget is fee-based and stands apart from the city’s $1.1 billion operating budget. The law does not allow the city to use the fees except at the landfill.

The separate fund also results in the city, which is prohibited from charging most residents for trash pickup, having to pay dumping fees at Miramar of up to $11 million annually from its operating budget.

Now the city will try the less aggressive route of managed competition, a change viewed by some as an opportunity for the roughly 130 city employees who would have lost their jobs had the landfill been sold. Now they’ll be given a chance to submit their own proposal against private firms for the work.

Joan Raymond, head of the city’s blue-collar union which represents many of those workers, was on vacation and didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

City Council President Tony Young said the mayor has taken a prudent approach with the landfill.

“I think we have to have an understanding of what our assets, especially a big asset like that, is worth,” Young said. “Now we’ve found that there’s not a big market for it for whatever reason. I’m actually really happy that now the employees get a chance to bid on it and the taxpayers will be able to get probably a better price in regards to running it because it’s going to have some competition involved.”

The Mayor’s Office is expected to begin the managed competition process for the landfill in May or June, but final approval may not come until mid-2012.

WIH Resource Group is a global leader and provider of comprehensive waste management, recycling, transportation/logistical and business solutions, specializing in, among other services, waste management operational performance assessments, transportation / logistics, alternative fuel use, solid waste planning, waste and recycling market studies, business development and environmental services. Based in Phoenix, the company serves both private and public sector clients throughout North America and globally. Our customers include both public agencies and private sector businesses customers throughout North America. To learn more visit http://www.wihrg.com

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com

Whether you want to optimize solid waste or recycling collection routes for a fleet of 5 trucks or 150, or need routing for high density areas or point-to-point collection, WIH Resource Group provides both routing software tools as well as WIH’s Team of Field Route Auditors can perform manual route audits that make onroute waste collection and dispatch operations both efficient and cost-effective.

These tools eliminate hours spent on manual routing, maximize productivity, optimize equipment and staff allocations, and allow you to gain better control over your operations.

In addition, WIH Resource Group provides independent software service provider analysis. In other words, if you are trying to determine the best mix of software and onboard hardware technology, WIH Resource Group can assist you in perfoming a Techonology Assessment Study
aimed and evaluating and identfying major providers of the most relevant technology to meet your specific goals, objectives and needs in collection vehicle routing, GIS, GPS, onboard computer, real time collection vehicle tracking, fleet management, routing software or other industry technologies.

Waste Collection Routing Software Technology

WIH Resource Group works with its partners to provide software technology that is automated and designed primarily to support solid waste and recycling collection services.

The software application will generate efficient vehicle routes for solid waste collection over a street network, and can also be used for street cleaning, newspaper / postal delivery, and other applications that require an arc-routing solution with side constraints.

The route optimization software is for Waste Collection that supports multiple lines of business including Commercial (Front Load), Residential and Roll-Off (Industrial).

WIH’s routing solutions technology partner’s software is designed to approach routing the way you would route manually. This design philosophy produces routes that are immediately useable in the field. After all, hitting the ground running is the ultimate test of success for route optimization software.

Higher Productivity and Lower Operating Costs

WIH Resource Group Clients can realize higher productivity gains and lower operational costs than alternatives along with the reduction in hauling onroute collection costs, disposal costs and capital costs.

Savings opportunities can be realized by reducing miles driven, hours spent, reduction in the number of vehicles required and reduction in total disposal cost. WIH’s waste and recycling collection routing software solutions integrate product suite for the Waste Industry and also provides for other opportunities like dynamic dispatching, real-time vehicle tracking and planned v/s actual comparison, thus providing increased operational excellence.

Here are a few of the benefits WIH Resource Group’s Route Optimization Services offer our Clients:

Decreased Labor Costs

Decrease Onroute Mileage

Increased Route Density

Decreased Maintenance Costs

Reduced Driver Overtime

Improved Customer Service

Real Time Vehicle / Asset Tracking

Improved Driver Communications

Improved New Customer Intergration

More Accurate Collection Service Pricing

Reduced Fuel Costs

Maximize Driver and Fleet Productivity

Improved Customer Retention

WIH Clients can optimize their residential, commercial and roll off collection lines of business routes daily or weekly or they can optimize their previous day and same day tickets for the various service types and container sizes while meeting transfer station, yard and landfill time windows.

Our Routing Software Partners’ route planning and route optimization solutions have been implemented by the first and second largest solid waste and recycling collection companies – as well as other top waste haulers – in North America with combined fleet size of over 35,000 vehicles and has proven savings of 10% to 35%.

Waste and Recycling Collection Route Auditing

WIH Resource Group understands that every solid waste collection organziation (Public Agency or Private Sector Company) is different, that’s why we go out of our way to tailor specialized services to your specific needs. The following information offers ways that WIH’s Route Optimization Program turns “route audits” into more profits for your company.

WIH’s Field Team will perform driver ride-alongs taking snapshots to establish a benchmark of your current operations and identify new revenue and cost reduction opportunities for your routes, customer service, billing, sales and safety departments.

The WIH Field Team will then verify your customers’ service levels that may include the following:

WIH Resource Group is a global leader and provider of comprehensive waste management, recycling, transportation/logistical and business solutions, specializing in, among other services, waste management operational performance assessments, transportation / logistics, alternative fuel use, solid waste planning, waste and recycling market studies, business development and environmental services. Based in Phoenix, the company serves both private and public sector clients throughout North America and globally. Our customers include both public agencies and private sector businesses customers throughout North America. To learn more visit http://www.wihrg.com

Should you have any questions about this news or general questions about our diversified services, please contact Bob Wallace, Principal & VP of Client Solutions at WIH Resource Group and Waste Savings, Inc. at admin@wihrg.com